Who loves basketball? We love basketball! The NBA finals are cruising forward, letting the season take a final and (thus far) unmemorable bow. That leaves the sparsely attended, yet still exciting, WNBA to fill the basketball-sized void in our hearts until next year. What the WNBA lacks in corporate sponsorship and utter star power they more than make up for in wearable technology. Wait, what? It’s true! The WNBA has announced today they are unveiling a rather tech-forward eyewear device that is slightly reminiscent of Google Glass and extremely reminiscent of something cool.
The league announced today something they lovingly ref-er(pun intended) to as Ref Cam. This is essentially a head-mounted camera worn by the referees of various WNBA games. This camera takes the form of a glasses-like attachment that, form factor wise, has a lot in common with Google’s world-changing baby. As the refs go about their job, they are constantly using the camera to take HD video in 1080i. Not only that. The device can be remote controlled by the editors in the room to get a better angle on a divisive shot or call. The benefits to this system are two-fold. Not only do viewers get a bird’s eye view of the action like never before, but everyone can just “cut to the footage” when a ref’s call is disputed. That should make for a lot less of “that dirty bum” name calling. OK, so maybe it won’t.
This device is so cool that it is highly expected other refs in other major sports leagues will adopt it. So all of you refs out there, you had better get ready to strap something ornery to your face. You had also get ready making smart, unassailable calls. We’ll be watching.
